WASHINGTON
THE
MAGAZlME
COPYRIGHT,1929. BY NATIONALGEOGRAPHICSOCIETY.WASHINGTON D. C. . IN THE UNITED STATESAND GREAT BRITAIN
EXPLORING THE WONDERS OF THE
INSECT WORLD
BY WILLIAM JOSEPH SHOWALTER
AUTHOR OF "EXPLORING THE GLORIES OF THE FIRMAMENT,"
EXPLORINGG TlHE MYSTERIES OF PLANT LIFE,"
ETC., ETC., IN THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
THOUGH intrepid explorers have
conquered the earth's opposite
poles, climbed its highest moun
tains, crossed its most dangerous deserts,
penetrated its deepest jungles, and sounded
its most profound seas, fortunately they
have left many realms closer home and
less challenging to human endurance where
the humblest of us can lead expeditions
and from which the poorest of us may
bring back rich trophies of new knowl
edge.
Insectdom is one of these near-by realms
that offers rare rewards to those whose
eyes are alert, whose minds are keen, and
whose patience is unrelenting. It begins
in our own dooryards and stretches as far
afield as we choose to wander. The man,
or woman, or child who turns explorer
there will find among its tiny folk more
occasions to marvel than Gulliver in all
his travels, more reasons to wonder than
the fabled adventurer into the topsy-turvy
territories of the Kosekins.
For among the insects one finds habits
of life that run the gamut of interest, from
the amazing to the bizarre; discovers traits
that in some ways seem to transcend hu
man intelligence; beholds untaught powers
of foresight that appear to outshine man's
most highly trained faculty of taking
thought of the future; sees intricate chem
ical and physical problems solved in a man
ner worthy of our finest laboratories; gets
glimpses of natural powers of perception
that go far beyond our unaided senses and
rival the detecting powers of the finest
instruments that science has brought to
the student's aid. One even runs upon
solutions of involved social problems that
civilization has tried vainly to master.
INSECT FORERUNNERS OF MODERN
INVENTORS
Into this wonder world many explorers
have gone who could match the intrepid
courage of a pole-seeker with the uncon
querable patience of a life-history hunter.
Whoever reads Fabre and Forel, Comstock
and Kellogg, Lutz and Wheeler, the Peck
hams and the Raus, and scores of others
knows alike what infinite treasures of truth
already have been gathered and what bo
nanzas of interest still lie untouched.
Through such workers as these we have
learned that long before our ancestors had
emerged from their primeval caves, or had
dreamed of a better anesthetic than a club,
the glowworm had evolved a sleeping po
tion so subtle that its victim could not per
ceive its administration, yet so powerful
that nothing could disturb the profound
sleep it induced.
When our forbears were dressing in
skins and before they had domesticated
even the dog, the bagworms, larvae of the
Psyche moths, were tailoring themselves
snug coats and close-fitting nightcaps,
JULY, 1929
VOL. LVI, No. 1